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Symbolism: Keely's Mountain

In this blended lesson supporting literacy skills, students are introduced to Keely, who feels that her identity as a Nipmuc Native American is weakened because there is no strong Nipmuc community around her. The video Keely made when she was young and felt discouraged is countered by her positive thoughts about identity when she is older. Students develop their literacy skills through an English language arts focus on symbolism. During this process, they read informational text, learn and practice vocabulary words, and explore content through videos and interactive activities. This resource is part of the Inspiring Middle School Literacy Collection.

Students need to be signed in to complete this lesson. Go to "About This Activity" in "Support Materials" below or click here.

1Introduction

Everyone has places that are important to them—somewhere they go for vacation, famous places they have visited or seen in pictures, places where something important happened to them, or their hometown. What places have meaning for you, and why?

2Symbols in Our Lives

Every state in the United States has a place that represents it.

Symbols are things that represent ideas, places, or people. The American flag is a symbol of the United States and of patriotism. Places that symbolize, or represent, the United States include Mount Rushmore, the U.S. Capitol, and Ellis Island.

Famous sites in your state can symbolize your pride in where you live. For example, the people of Nebraska have Chimney Rock, a 300-foot-tall rock tower in the western part of the state. It is the symbol of Nebraska, and it is the image Nebraskans chose to include on their state quarter.

In this lesson, you will meet a young girl named Keely who loves a mountain near her home. Keely is part Nipmuc. The Nipmucs are a Native American tribe that once lived in central Massachusetts, northern Connecticut, and northern Rhode Island. You will learn why the mountain is symbolic for Keely, and how it affects her sense of her own identity.

4Keely's Personal Identity: Watch It!

Keely's Personal Identity

Video: 1m 52s

When she was 12 years old, Keely made a video about being part of the Nipmuc Nation. The Nipmucs are Native Americans who originally lived in New England as a tribe, or group, but now live all over the United States. As you watch this video, think about Keely’s sense of her own personal identity as part Irish and part Nipmuc, and how it is affected by her feeling that:

The Nipmuc reservation is so small that she and other Nipmuc people could never live there together

In one to two sentences, explain what Keely means when she says she grew up with "mixed feelings about how to be Nipmuc."

5Wachusett Mountain: Watch It!

Wachusett Mountain

Video: 1m 31s

In this video segment, Keely describes how she once wanted to create a Nipmuc community center on Wachusett Mountain, the highest mountain in central Massachusetts. Also known as Mount Wachusett, the mountain was once part of Nipmuc land and was sacred to the Nipmucs. Today it belongs to the state and includes a ski resort, a place where people pay to go skiing. As you watch, think about what the mountain means to Keely—what it symbolizes for her. How does it connect to her desire to bring her people together in one place so they can teach young Nipmucs like herself more about their culture?

Click "View" on the left to watch the video.

What does Wachusett Mountain symbolize for Keely? Write your answer in two to three sentences.

6Mountain as Symbol

Keely imagines Wachusett Mountain as the center of a new Nipmuc community.

The Nipmucs used to live in parts of what is now New England, along with other Native American groups. They had their own culture, including language, clothing, traditions, and religion. That’s what gave them their communityidentity. Once their land was taken over by European settlers in colonial times, the Nipmucs began to move to different regions of the country. They are no longer all in the same area, and Wachusett Mountain, in central Massachusetts, is no longer part of their land.

For Keely, the loss of the mountain is symbolic: she feels that Wachusett has lost its Nipmuc identity, just like the Nipmuc people. That’s why she once wanted to get the mountain back—she wanted to change it back into a center of Nipmuc culture. If this could happen, more Nipmucs would come to it, and the sacred mountain could once again be a symbol of Nipmuc pride and community.

7Symbolism in Literature: Read It!

Symbolism in Literature

Document

In this lesson, you have learned about symbolic places, including Wachusett Mountain and what it symbolizes for Keely. Now you will read about symbolism in literature.

Click "View" on the left to open the reading passage.

How are symbols of nature, like the Great Plains or the tiger, used in literature to represent ideas like freedom and danger? Write your answer in two to three sentences.

8Reviewing What You Learned

Places can become symbols of people, ideas, experiences, or events.

The videos you have seen and the text you have read describe Keely’s feelings about her Nipmuc identity, and how Wachusett Mountain is a symbol for her of the lost Nipmuc community in New England.

Now show what you have learned so far about Wachusett Mountain, symbolism, and personal identity by answering these three questions. Be sure to save all your answers before you go to the next screen.

9Match It!

You will now check your understanding of the vocabulary words for this lesson by placing them in sentences. Click "View" on the left to begin the activity.

Before moving to the next screen, choose two words from the vocabulary list and write a new sentence for each word.

Vocabulary words: community, culture, identity, sacred, symbolism

10Highlight It!

As the videos and the reading have shown, Keely once felt that the Nipmuc people needed a symbolic place to gather in order to be able to share and celebrate their culture. In this activity, you will read about how Keely's feelings about the Nipmuc community have changed now that she is older.

Click "View" on the left to begin the activity. Your teacher will review the answers with you.

Then, before moving on to the final assignment, you may want to watch this lesson's videos again or reread the passage.

Keely's Personal Identity

Video: 1m 52s

Wachusett Mountain

Video: 1m 31s

Symbolism in Literature

Document

11Final Assignment

In high school, Keely came to realize that getting Wachusett Mountain back for her people was not the only way she could feel connected to her community.

In this lesson, you have learned about symbolism in our lives and in literature. You will now write an essay that shares what you have learned and what you think about it.

Begin by reviewing your notes. Click "review my work" above and view or print out the screen that pops up.

Credits

Screen 1:

Screen 2:

Nebraska State Quarter (Image)Public domain.

Screen 4:

Keely's Personal Identity (Video)American Experience, We Shall Remain: "Reel Native - Hope for Bigger Than 16 Seconds" by Keely Curliss. "We Shall Remain" is an American Experience production in association with Native American Public Telecommunications for WGBH Boston.

Screen 5:

Wachusett Mountain (Video)American Experience, We Shall Remain: "Reel Native - Hope for Bigger Than 16 Seconds" by Keely Curliss. "We Shall Remain" is an American Experience production in association with Native American Public Telecommunications for WGBH Boston.

Screen 7:

Screen 8:

Symbolic Places (Image) Jupiterimages Corporation

Screen 10:

Keely's Personal Identity (Video)American Experience, We Shall Remain: "Reel Native - Hope for Bigger Than 16 Seconds" by Keely Curliss. "We Shall Remain" is an American Experience production in association with Native American Public Telecommunications for WGBH Boston.

Wachusett Mountain (Video)American Experience, We Shall Remain: "Reel Native - Hope for Bigger Than 16 Seconds" by Keely Curliss. "We Shall Remain" is an American Experience production in association with Native American Public Telecommunications for WGBH Boston.

This is a student-directed lesson to be completed online. Download and print the Teacher's Guide (in "For Teachers") for essential background information and suggestions for ways to support students as they complete the lesson.

Help with Registering Your Students

Students need to be signed into their own account in order to save their work in the lesson. Students must save each screen of the lesson before moving on to the next screen. Once they have saved a screen, they cannot go back to change their work.

To register your students, refer to "Student Help" through the Help tab on the PBS LearningMedia homepage or click here.

View Student Work in the Blended Lessons – Three Ways

Ask students to print out work.

Log into the lessons using the students' account credentials and view their saved work online.

Have students send you their unique lesson URL. [After students save any work in a lesson, they click "review my work" in the upper right-hand corner. This will open up their work in a pop-up window. They may then copy and paste the URL for that pop-up window and send it to you.]